Through the Blood I Tasted Your Lips
by DemigodDaughterOfTheTARDIS
Summary: Ariel and Spencer are back, with things only getting wilder. No one is sure how much longer they will be able to keep their secrets, and the presence of in-laws can only make things worse... Second in the Ariel Reid 'Verse.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, my furry friends! It's been a long time, I know, but I'm hoping that it will be worth the wait for you all. I'm glad to be back, though. Welcome back to the Ariel Reid 'Verse, and I hope you all enjoy your stay.**

 **As usual, the only things that I own are the plot and Undiscovered Nemesis.**

Spencer Reid was waiting anxiously the entire day, hoping with every fiber of his being that they wouldn't get a call-out. Not today of all days.

Because if he missed tonight, Ariel was going to kill him. And where she was concerned, that was never an idle threat.

Finally it reached five o'clock, and he shot up from his desk, almost falling over in his rush to leave.

Morgan laughed. "What's the hurry, pretty boy?" the older man asked teasingly, but Spencer just rolled his eyes.

"I would have thought that you of all people would know what today is." the young genius replied as he hastily shoved his things into the messenger bag that he had carried for as long as anyone could remember.

Morgan laughed, but didn't deny it. Although, if Reid had been paying just a little bit more attention, he would have noticed the slightly awkward look on his friend's face.

It only took another minute or two for Reid to finish packing up the last of his paperwork, and then he was heading for the door. Morgan let him get most of the way there, before calling out, "Be careful, kid! We don't want any more baby geniuses just yet!" Then he laughed as the kid tripped over nothing in his attempt to turn around. The poor genius was bright red, and kept tripping over his words.

"Shut… shut up, Morgan. You don't - you don't know what you're talking about." he stammered. "Bye."

Morgan couldn't stop laughing at his friend's reaction, but it only got worse when JJ came by.

"What was up with Spence when he left?" The blonde woman asked. "He seemed like something had really messed with his head."

That made him snort a laugh, and he smirked. "Yeah, you could say that."

The communications liaison narrowed her eyes, as if she was trying to pull the information from Morgan's mind through force of will alone.

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"Hey chica, the G-man is here!" Katerina Simms called out from where she sat in the living room. Her dyed orange hair was a source of great amusement for her nephew, Michael, who was sitting on her lap, pulling at strands of it. She winced, gently untangling his chubby hands from her chin-length style, signing as she spoke. "No, Michael. That's not nice."

The four-month-old child just gave her a gummy smile, before reaching out and yanking on her hair again.

The door opened then, and Kat smiled as her old friend entered the room, making a beeline for his son. "Hey, Spencer." she greeted, handing over the child to his father.

"Hi." he said, giving her a warm smile. "Where's Ariel?"

"She's upstairs." Kat said, pushing past him to make her way into the kitchen, pulling a bottle out of the fridge. "Just finishing getting ready. Any idea where you guys are going?"

Spencer shook his head. "None at all, actually. I should get changed, though." He handed Michael back to Kat, before heading up the stairs.

"Hey." she called out, making him stop in his tracks as he turned to look at her. "Didn't you get her roses?" she asked with a completely straight face. Spencer scowled.

"Are you ever going to let me forget that?" he asked, and Kat laughed.

"Nope!" she said, still giggling slightly. "How could you have not known she was allergic?" she asked, and he sighed, rolling his eyes at their old debate.

"I was sixteen!" he protested. "It was our first date!"

"Mmhmmm." was all that Kat would say in reply, shaking her head. "Right. Get up there."

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"Ariel?" He called out, stopping in the doorway of their bedroom. "Ari-bear, where are you?"

"I'm in here, killer." Ariel Reid called out from the master bathroom. "Your clothes are on the bed." He turned and looked at their bed with its black-and-gray comforter, and groaned playfully when he saw what was laying on it.

His wife leaned backwards enough so that only her head and shoulders were visible through the doorway. "Shut it, you." She teased. "Put it on."

He grumbled a bit more, but they both knew it was just for show.

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"Ready to go, killer?" Ariel called, and both Spencer and Kat looked up from where they were sitting at the kitchen table, talking.

"Wow…" Kat whistled. "Damn girl."

"What?" She asked, spinning around with a smirk on her face. "Is there something on my face?" she had lined her eyes with black, and had painted her lips red, looking like she had stepped out of a pin-up poster. Her hair had been curled and pinned up, and she wore a dress that he had never seen before. It was baby pink and floor length, with a slit up the side and no sleeves.

If it wasn't for the row of roses tattooed on each arm, he would have sworn that Ava Gardner had just walked into their kitchen.

He crossed over to Ariel, pulling her close to him and cradling her face in his hands, kissing her long and hard. When he pulled away, she gave him a breathless smile. "I'm guessing that means you like the dress."

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They made it halfway through the night without anything going wrong. The ship that Ariel had booked them on was a triple-decked monstrosity, covered in lights and pink-and-red streamers. It was beautiful in its own way, but Spencer's favorite part was how it felt. Once they stepped onto the boat, it was like they had been transported back in time. It was themed around the 1940s, which meant lots of fancy dresses and suits, and a lack of technology that made him grin. Although, he thought dryly, Garcia would have a heart attack if she knew that.

He had left his wife's side for only a few minutes, to get them some drinks while they took a break from dancing. He was only gone for five minutes at the most, but when he got back there was someone else there.

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"Ari Ross!" A man's voice called out, and Ariel stiffened. "Is that you?"

She turned to face him, plastering a confused look on her face. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Don't play games, doll. Its not attractive," the man said, putting an arm around her shoulders. Unfortunately, she recognized him. He was an agent from another recording studio, who had made multiple attempts to get her to quit the band and come work for him as a solo act. Of course, she had no interest in doing that. But he didnt seem to be willing to take a hint.

She pulled his arm off of her shoulders, frowning at him. "I'm sorry, I have no idea who you're talking about. Now please leave me alone."

"Oh, come on, doll!" He cried, acting offended. "Don't be like that. Of course you're Ari. You got the tattoos an' everything."

That was when she nearly sagged with relief, hearing a familiar voice behind her. "Get off of my wife." She turned around then to see Spencer glaring at the agent. It was in that moment that she could see exactly what he was like in the field… and it was kind of sexy.

"Your wife?" The agent asked, looking surprised. "Ari Ross is your wife?"

"I keep telling you." She said, moving to stand next to Spencer. "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Look," Spencer said, keeping his voice low. "Leave now, and I won't have you arrested for harassing a federal officer."

The agent backed away slowly, holding his hands in the air, but he still didn't seem convinced. "What, she's a fed?" he asked, sounding skeptical. Spencer shook his head, moving his jacket slightly to the side to reveal his badge.

"No, I am." He said, correcting the man. "Now please leave." the agent left almost immediately, and the young genius turned to look at his wife in concern.

"Are you okay?" He asked, checking her over. "Did he hurt you?"

She was shaken, but still managed to answer him. "I'm fine, sweetie." she reassured, but then looked at him sheepishly. "Just… can we go home now, please?"

Spencer smiled, slightly relieved. He was getting tired - there was only so much dancing that he could do, after all.

"Of course, Ariel." he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Let's go home."

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The next morning, Morgan couldn't help but laugh when he saw the grin on the kid's face. "I'm guessing that last night went well?"

The younger man blushed slightly. "It was fun." he admitted.

"What did you do?" Prentiss asked, joining in the conversation. Spencer's expression turned slightly nostalgic.

"We danced." he said simply. Unfortunately for him, the others didn't take it that way.

Morgan actually choked on his coffee, while Emily just stared at him in shock, completely ignoring the older man's spluttering. When he was finally able to regain control, he looked at his friend in surprise. "Way to go, kid!" he said, smiling at Reid.

But Reid just looked confused. "What? Why would you…" he trailed off, realizing what the others thought that he meant.

He turned bright red in a matter of seconds. "What?" He managed to stutter out. "Guys, no, that's - no, that's not - that's not what I meant…"


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter was beta-read by the lovely PureNinjaInTheShadows - thank you for everything you do, you lovely *****. ;)**

Spencer and Ariel Reid walked into the BAU bullpen hand-in-hand with Spencer carrying Michael's car seat in his other hand. Both of them were smiling like idiots, although the term 'idiot' didn't apply to either one of them.

The little boy in question was waving his tiny fists through the air, giggling to himself as he looked around. His wavy brown hair was covered by a soft blue hat, and he wore a tiny little Radiohead onesie with black and gray striped pants.

As soon as the team saw their expressions, they had at least a general idea as to how things had gone. Today was the day that little Michael Gideon Reid had gone to see the ear doctor - or, as Spencer had continuously reminded everyone, the pediatric otolaryngologist. After the appointment, the young parents would have known if it was possible for Michael to ever hear at all.

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 _Ariel's P.O.V._

"So?" Garcia asked, practically running over to where we were walking towards everyone else. She was, of course, the first to question us about the appointment. "How did it go? What's the verdict?"

I laughed. "Calm down, Penny." I said, putting a hand on my friend's shoulder to try and get her to stop bouncing. Spencer moved over to his desk, placing the car seat on top of it before carefully unbuckling our son and pulling him out, keeping him cradled close to his chest. Even after a little over five months of fatherhood, he was still surprisingly wary around the baby. It had taken me awhile to get him to open up to why he was so nervous, but eventually he had admitted it was because of his dad.

That was the day that I swore to myself that I was going to punch William Reid the next time I saw him.

"She can't help it, you know that. Baby Girl's high strung like that." Morgan said, teasingly. However, instead of glaring at him like she normally would have, or coming up with a flirty response of her own, Penelope just blushed. Derek moved over to smile at and play with his godson. "But seriously, pretty boy, what's the result?"

"The doctor said yes." he finally revealed, passing Michael over to Derek. "He'll be fitting Michael for hearing aids at the next appointment in two weeks, and they should be ready a few weeks after that."

The entire team erupted into cheers and congratulations, which lasted about a minute before JJ's phone went off. She checked it quickly, before putting it away.

"Sorry to cut things short, guys." she said apologetically. "But we have a case."

I smiled at them all. "Well, you probably won't see me when you get back." I told them, moving around to collect hugs from the team.

"What? Why?" Penelope asked, pulling me into a back-breaking hug.

"I'm going back to work." I explained when I saw the confused looks on the rest of the team's faces. "So I'm gonna be gone for at least a month, but probably closer to six weeks, knowing my luck."

"But what about Michael?" Emily asked, and I gave her a wry grin.

"He's coming with me." I reassured her, slightly surprised that she had even asked me that question in the first place. "I'm not ready to be away from him at all yet, and he's still breast feeding. It'll be tricky, figuring out how to work it out, but I'll manage." What I didn't tell them was that I had no idea how the hell I was actually going to accomplish any of it. I'd be stuck in LA with my four best friends and a five-month old, with paparazzi everywhere.

No matter how things ended, it was going to be insane.

"Right then, one last round of hugs and then we have a plane to catch." I told everyone, trying to keep my voice upbeat and cheerful. In reality, I was nervous beyond belief - just not about the trip to LA, although that was still on my list of concerns. But at the top of my list at the moment was my husband. He had barely let Michael out of his sight for the last twenty-four hours, and he hadn't been that much better with me. I had woken up that morning to find Michael laying on Spencer's chest as they cooed at each other while laying in the bed next to me. I knew that he was going to miss us, and that he was most likely trying to use that incredible mind of his to sear every moment into his memory, but I couldn't help but worry. So when it was my turn to hug Morgan, I whispered in his ear, "keep an eye on him for me."

He smirked as he hugged me tightly. "Of course. Look after yourself, sweetheart."

I smiled at him. "Like that's gonna happen." I snorted.

That was when Hotch came down from his office. "Ariel." he said, surprised. "What are you and Michael doing here? I thought you had a plane to catch."

"We do." I reassured him. "Just wanted to say goodbye to everyone before we left." He nodded, giving me a rare - if small - smile.

"Alright." he said. "Good luck."

I laughed. "Hopefully I won't need it."

I gave everyone one last round of hugs before making my way over to Spencer's desk, grabbing Michael's car seat in one hand, and the diaper bag in the other. "Walk me to the elevators, killer?" I asked my husband. Spencer smiled, nodding at me before following me out, still clutching Michael tightly to his chest.

I turned to look at him once we reached the elevators, putting both the diaper bag and the car seat down on the ground next to me. "Hey." I said, reaching up to link my hands together at the back of Spencer's neck, pulling him down to place a soft kiss on his lips. "It'll be okay, we'll be home before you know it." I told him, and he smiled sadly.

"I know, Ari-bear." he said, trying to reassure me. "It'll be hard without the two of you." he admitted. "But I'll manage."

I smiled at him, pulling him close for one last kiss before letting go of him so that he could strap Michael into his seat. "Remember to eat and sleep." I reminded Spencer. There were times that I worried what he would be like if we had never met - most likely even more anti-social than he already was, if I thought about it. He probably would have spent his entire life on cases. "There's leftover chicken stir fry in the fridge, and the take-out menus are in the drawer next to the dishwasher…" Spencer cut me off with a laugh.

"Relax, Ariel." he said, grabbing me by the shoulders and pulling me in tightly. "I'll be fine."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I know, but I worry. Just promise me that you won't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

He smiled at me, and I drank it in, knowing that it was one of the last smiles of his that I was going to see for a while. "No promises." he said, and I just shook my head as I pressed the button for the elevator.

"I'll take what I can get." I decided, rolling my eyes at his ridiculousness as I picked up Michael's seat, hefting it up to rest on my hip. "I love you, Spencer Reid." I said as Michael and I got into the elevator.

"And I guess, if this is my last chance to say it…" Spencer began, and I felt my jaw drop slightly even as he smirked at me. There was no way that he was actually going to go through with this… was there? "Ariel Reid…" the elevator doors slid shut, and I was left cursing at my husband.

I should have never watched Doomsday with him last night.

 **Thank you so much to Bubbles90, PureNinjaInTheShadows, ahowell1993, Guest, and tlcroft for their reviews!**

 **There are bits of foreshadowing in this chapter, and there was some in the last chapter is well. Feel free to PM me or leave a review if you have a guess as to what it is that I'm hinting at!**


	3. Chapter 3

**To everyone who tried to deduce what the foreshadowing was - my apologies, but you got it wrong.**

 **There is a time jump that occurs in this chapter - anything with Spencer is roughly two weeks after anything with Ariel and Michael.**

 **Thanks to my lovely beta, PureNinjaInTheShadows, for her amazing help as always.**

Five people were standing in the middle of a deserted crossroads in the middle of nowhere - a tall man with tattoos and shaggy blonde hair, a short Asian man, a darker skinned woman with blonde hair and a few tattoos, a man with close-cropped dark hair and the brightest eyes that anyone had ever seen, and a brunette woman with roses tattooed down her arms. The entire place was covered in dust and dirt, and a few fallen down houses could be seen in the distance, like something out of a Wild West ghost town. She was looking around nervously, as though she was waiting for someone. Their clothes were dirty, torn and tattered - more like rags than anything that actually resembled clothing - and if they wore any shoes at all, they were falling apart.

 _Been waiting at these crossroads forever and a day, on a guy to buy my soul._

A man appeared. Tall and well-built, he wore a nicely tailored suit and an even nicer smile. The woman lit up, running over to him, only stopping when she looked into his eyes. They were pitch black, and filled with pure malice.

 _I spent all night and day, how much harder can I play, you know I gave my life to rock and roll._

 _Here we go_

The view changed, this time to the entire band playing at a sold-out concert. Kat's fiery red hair was easily visible even amidst the artificial smoke that filled the stage. Fans were jumping around and screaming like crazed animals in their excitement.

 _Take me down, take me down. Take me down, won't you take me down._

The video continued, but he wasn't paying attention, too lost in nostalgia until the last few seconds of the video. That was when he was able to focus in on the video enough to see Ari Ross turn her head so that it was pointed directly at the camera. The camera slowly focused in on her face, and he noticed that she was no longer wearing the rags that she had had at the beginning of the video. Instead, she wore a tight-fitting black dress with a slit up the side and no sleeves, and was draped in more diamonds than he had ever seen her in. She then slowly opened her eyes, revealing that they were pitch black, much like the man from the beginning of the video.

The screen faded to black while a cackling laugh could be heard in the background, before an announcer that was far too perky for her own good came back onto the screen.

"And there you have it - the last song from Undiscovered Nemesis! But things might be changing for the band, as many of their recent songs have taken a different turn. Coming up next on Entertainment Weekly -" Spencer Reid smiled sadly as he picked up the remote for the television and hit the power button. He was missing Ariel and Michael more than ever at the moment, to the point where he was seriously considering asking Hotch for a week or so off so that he could go to LA and see his family. They talked on the phone every night, and wrote letters back and forth, but it still wasn't enough.

Things had been getting ten times worse in the two weeks since they had left. He had been almost depressed, and nothing seemed to work as well anymore to get him out of his funk. He didn't remember it being anywhere near this bad in the past when Ariel had left for work in the past, but something was different this time. Maybe it was that this was the first time that she had left in over a year. Or maybe it was because she had had to take Michael with her. He had known that it was inevitable for at least the first trip to LA and tour, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

It didn't help that his old enemy was back. His cravings had come back, getting steadily worse as time went on. It had gotten to the point where he was practically itching for dilaudid, but he couldn't give in. He had fought it off before, but he had help then.

So maybe he would need help again.

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Ariel sighed in relief as she got the door to her LA house opened. It was a bit smaller than the one that she and Spencer had bought, but still plenty large enough to feel empty with only two people living in it, especially when one of them wasn't yet at full size. She really only owned the house because the band's manager, Eli, had thought that it would be a good idea to have an address to send all of her packages and deliveries to that wasn't the recording studio. She set Michael's baby seat inside the door before going back out for their luggage. Luckily for her, she had managed to avoid the paps by taking a different flight than the rest of the band did. That meant that she had arrived in LA around five hours after the rest of the band, but it was worth the delay if it meant that she got to keep her life secret.

Once she finally managed to get everything inside, the next task was to figure out how to get Michael settled in. She hadn't had a chance yet to get any baby stuff for while they were in LA, and was trying to figure out exactly where he was going to sleep for the night. Instead of continuing with that, though, she just took a second to look around. The place looked exactly how she remembered it, but at the same time it felt completely different. It seemed… emptier, than she remembered. Like it was less of a home. Not that she was all that surprised. This was the longest that she had been away from work - usually it was six months on tour, followed by six months at home with Spencer.

She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned against the door. The darkness was quickly replaced by the familiar sight of her family - her goofy genius of a husband messing around with Morgan and Gabe, while Lee encouraged them and Finn scolded all of them. Rossi in the kitchen, helping her and Kat to fix up a feast, while Garcia, JJ and Emily all fussed over Michael. Music and laughter filled the air, and all was right with the world.

Then the scene shifted, and an unconscious smile crossed her lips. This time she saw a lazy Saturday afternoon where there weren't any cases or calls from managers or recording studios. Instead, there was just her husband, curled up with a stack of books in various languages sitting next to him, reading aloud to their son even though he couldn't hear a word of it. The two boys were practically hidden under a mountain of blankets and pillows that her husband swore was a fort, with only their heads and arms visible. Spencer paused for a second to smile up at her, pushing his glasses back up on his nose.

Her memories were interrupted by Michael crying, and she opened her eyes to see the dark and musty house that they would be living in for the next month or so until they were done recording everything and were able to go back home. It was very nearly depressing, she thought ruefully.

She nearly burst out laughing when she realized where her thoughts had gone. She couldn't remember the last time that she had become that melancholy.

"Hey, it's okay baby." she said gently signing the words as she said them. He was still too young to understand what they meant, but she and Spencer had agreed to sign when they talked, stopping when they came to a word that they didn't know the sign for.

She picked him up out of his car seat, bouncing softly on the balls of her feet as she carried Michael down the hallway, through the living room and across the kitchen. She pulled the refrigerator door open, groaning when she saw what was in it - a case of beer and some cheese that was so moldy it looked like she would need a hazmat suit to properly dispose of it.

"Right." she sighed softly. "First thing tomorrow, we're going grocery shopping."

Michael just giggled.

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The study was one of the few places in their house that wasn't a mix of their styles, but was purely Spencer. The walls were papered with beige and brown designs, and the dark hardwood flooring was covered with rugs - what little of the hardwood that could be seen was almost completely covered with books. Despite the bookshelves that were set into all four walls, there still wasn't enough space for them all. Both Ariel and Spencer had an almost fanatical love of books, and it showed in their house. A large oak desk took up a large section of the room, and smaller side tables with lamps were spaced between the bookshelves, and an old stone fireplace was on the wall facing the desk. The entire place looked almost like something out of a Sherlock Holmes story, but it fit Spencer to a tee. Ariel had insisted on making him the study when they had first bought their house. At the time, he had protested, but now he couldn't help but smile at the little touches that she had put in the room. The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle filled up a shelf, along with Agatha Christie's complete works. A pipe was sat on the mantel, and tobacco was stuffed into a solitary persian slipper.

Ariel had thought it was _hilarious._

And, now that he sat himself down heavily in his chair, thinking about the way that that kid had just stared at him in accusatory horror as he was forced to take the shot…

He closed his eyes, shaking his head to try and shake the memories out of his head. He booted up the computer that Ariel insisted he have, and started looking for Narcotics Anonymous groups that specifically catered to cops.

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Ariel hummed under her breath as she got Michael dressed, making faces at him to get him to giggle. His eyes, which were starting to change from baby-blue to a warm amber, like his father's, were scrunched up in delight as he giggled at the faces she made. She pulled a clean onesie onto him - white, with the logo for Radiohead on it in black. "'Cause I'm a creep," she sang softly, spinning him around. "Yes I'm a weirdo." She carried Michael down the stairs, towards the kitchen. He had spent the night in her bed, with a barrier made on both sides by a dresser and a table.

"Are you ready to go to the store?" She said in a sing-song voice. "Yes you are. Yes you are." she cooed, rubbing her nose against Michael's in an Eskimo kiss.

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She opened the front door, smiling down at Michael and starting to walk towards the car when she ran into something sitting on the steps. Frowning, Ariel turned away from her son.

She smiled, laughing softly under her breath as she saw the bouquet of flowers waiting on the front porch. She put Michael's seat down, picking up the flowers and searching for the card, rolling her eyes at her ridiculous husband.

 _I miss you._

 _Love, your darling._

 **Thank you to ahowell1993, Wild Rose 900, tlcroft, PureNinjaInTheShadows, KiaOraToGube, KirkSauber, snowdrop65, ripon, Guest, and tannerose5 for their lovely reviews!**

 **There's a bit more foreshadowing in this chapter, which has nothing to do with what I was hinting at in the last chapters, sorry! I will give you a hint though - it's going to become a major plot point soon. I can't wait to see what you deduce!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So I forgot to tell you that the song in the last chapter was Take Me Down by The Pretty Reckless. The song in this chapter is Rose Tattoo by Dropkick Murphys.**

 **Beta'd by the brilliant PureNinjaInTheShadows**

He had promised Ariel that if his cravings started up again, he would get help. He had _promised._ For the first few weeks that she was gone, he had managed it well enough. But tonight, on his way home from the BAU, he had caught himself about to go into an area of Quantico that was notorious for drug dealers. That was when he knew that he had to do _something_ , or else he was going to end up losing everything. His job, his friends… his family.

And there was no way that he was going to do that.

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"Hi. Umm…" he began awkwardly, clearing his throat. "My name's, uh, Spencer, and I'm a… I don't really know what I am." he admitted.

"Hello, Spencer." the assembled cops chorused.

"This is my - this is my first meeting." Spencer admitted as he scanned the crowd. He had picked this place because it was far enough away from Quantico that he was sure that no one there would go to it, but it never hurt to double-check. Even though places like this thrived on secrecy, just one person - just one voice saying the wrong thing to the wrong people - was enough to destroy people's lives.

There were several choruses of "welcome".

"Thanks." he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Thank you." he paused for a moment before continuing. "I, I guess I.. I know I had a… a problem with dilaudid, but, um, I stopped." he laughed in disbelief - there were still some days when he couldn't believe that he had managed to stop. "Like… ten months ago I stopped. My wife…" he paused for a second to try and regain control over the lump that had cemented in his throat.

"I thought it was over," he continued. "But recently I'm - I've really been… your literature uses the term 'craving'. It started like a month ago. A - a suspect was murdered in front of me. A - a kid, and I thought that I could save the kid, but I couldn't, and…" he had no idea how to finish his sentence, but luckily the vibrating of his phone saved him from having to. He pulled it out of his pocket and hit 'end call' before continuing. "I've seen a lot of that stuff before, but for some reason that kid's face is really, uh… stuck in my brain." he let out a shaky laugh. "Y'know? It's really, uh - I can't… and I… I want to forget, about him, and I… I just want to escape." he finally finished, admitting what he himself had only recently realized.

That was when his phone went off again, this time with a text:

 _Avengers Assemble - PG_

"I - I have to go." Spencer muttered softly, trying his hardest to keep from feeling too awkward about leaving early. "I'm sorry."

He was halfway to his car before he noticed that someone was following him.

"Spencer." An authoritative voice called out behind him, but he didn't even bother to turn around. Instead he just called over his shoulder, "Sorry, I'm late."

He only stopped when the voice answered, "Places to go. People to profile."

The young man stopped then, only to turn around and see one of the last people that he would ever expect to find in a place like this.

He paused, placing his hands in his pockets as he waited for the other man to catch up.

"You know who I am." the man said, not even bothering to phrase it as a question.

Spencer nodded. "Of, course I do, sir." he said softly. "I just - I didn't, um…" now that he took a second, he started panicking. He could lose his job over this. "Expect to see a man... of your position... here." he finished lamely.

"Here there's no 'sirs'. I'm just John here." the other man said, smiling slightly. Spencer relaxed just a bit, slightly more confident that he wasn't about to lose his job. He was still curious as to why such an important man had stopped him, though, especially when he was on his way into work. "And this is not something you talk about at the office. Especially our office." his phone was vibrating again, and he pulled it out, checking it quickly.

"I'm sorry, but I really do have to go."

John reached into his back pocket, pulling something out. "Here." he said, offering the object to the younger man. "Here, take this. That's my one-year medallion. It took me six years to get it. For the past thirteen years, I've never left home without it. Because I know if I forget that, I'll lose my gun, my credentials, my home. Everything." John looked at Spencer, making sure that he understood the importance of what was happening. "Hold onto it."

Spencer turned it over in his hand, studying it closely. "I only have ten months." he finally said.

John nodded. "I know."

"It's your most prized possession."

"It is."

"You're just giving it to me?"

This time, John shook his head. "No. In a couple of months, when you get your year - you give it back to me."

Spencer watched for a minute as the other man walked away before speaking up. "I really don't understand." he called.

"You will."

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It was another ten minutes or so before Spencer was rushing into the conference room. "Sorry I'm late, guys." he said, brushing his hair out of his face as he apologized.

"I hope she was worth it." Rossi joked.

"Rossi, you'd better hope for his sake that he wasn't with a girl." Morgan countered. "Or else Ariel will kill him."

"I missed my train." Spencer explained, before sitting down. "So what do we have?"

JJ gave him a weird look, like she knew he wasn't completely telling the truth.

"Alright. The resident Rod Norris was DOA…."

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Today was the first day in studio since they had arrived. The last few weeks had been a mix of settling in, interviews, and figuring out exactly when they were going to go on tour again, along with what songs they wanted to make music videos for. The hardest thing was figuring out what to do with Michael while they were at the interviews. Eventually they decided that since Eli, the band's manager, wasn't needed onstage, Michael would stay with him.

Ariel managed to sneak into the studio without anyone that worked there recognizing her - something that she was sure was never going to happen again. Of course, she had taken several precautions to help with that - a baseball cap that she had tucked all of her hair into, and a CalTech t-shirt that belonged to Spencer that practically hung off of her tiny frame. Those plus the baby seat that she was currently carrying made an excellent disguise.

She still let out a massive sigh of relief when she made it to the studio that they had been using since their very first day of recording. The place was set up just like any other booth, but the band had added different things over the years.

"Well come on, then!" the sudden loud voice still made her jump after all these years. "Let's see the little one!"

Eli Roberts had been the band's manager since they had first started out when they were barely done with high school. He had hit the big time along with them when they had first been discovered five years ago, and was more of a father to her than anyone else. He was a large man, around six foot nine, with a shiny bald head and a love of horribly punny t-shirts. Ari laughed, bending down to unbuckle the straps that secured Michael into his car seat.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked as she stood back up, swaying on her feet slightly, before handing Michael over.

Eli looked at her in concern. "Went out for breakfast at that little cafe around the corner. Kat said she'd bring something back for you. Are you okay? You look like you're about to fall over."

But she just waved him off. "'M just tired." she said, before processing what he had said. She smiled. "That means that I have a chance to get this one down for a nap before we start."

"Isn't he sleeping?" he asked, but Ariel shook her head.

"Not even close." she admitted, yawning. "It was a lot easier to deal with his nighttime habits when we were home and I had Spencer to share baby-duty with. I haven't slept more than four hours a night since we got to LA." she told him as he started to rock Michael, trying to get him to fall asleep.

"But its barely ten in the morning!" Eli said in surprise, and Ari nodded, her eyes twinkling with laughter.

"Babies sleep, Eli." she teased. "It's practically a sport."

The older man just rolled his eyes. "Fine." he pouted, handing Michael back to his mother. "So how are you settling back in, sweetheart?" he asked, pulling her into a hug once Michael was back in his seat.

"It's definitely different." she confessed, rocking the seat gently with her foot as she sat down. "No more late night partying, no more getting drunk, no more worrying that I might let something slip while I'm drunk…"

"So it's all for the better, then?" he assumed, but Ariel shook her head.

"Not exactly. There's a lot more pressure to keep everything a secret." she confessed. "There's a lot more at stake, now. I don't want Michael to end up like most celebrity kids." She stopped, looking at the baby who was still stubbornly refusing to fall asleep, no matter what she tried. Now that he had his hearing aids, the novelty of actually being able to hear things kept him wide awake. "A lot more things could go wrong if I mess up."

"Hey." Eli said softly, taking her by the shoulders. "Everything will be okay."

"I know." She said, letting him pull her into a hug. "I'm just worried about what we're going to do as he gets older. What about when he starts school? What are we going to do then? I can't pull him out of school to go on tour, and he can't stay home with Spencer - what would happen when he has to leave on a case?"

"You'll figure things out, Ariel." Eli reassured her. "And if you have to, you can always take a break from the band."

Of course, that was when the rest of the band got back. "Good luck getting that to happen." Kat snorted. "The woman was helping her husband solve a case only a few months after giving birth, Eli. The only thing that's going to get her to quit the band is death." That got everyone laughing, even though they knew that Kat wasn't really exaggerating. Undiscovered Nemesis was Ariel's baby, and everyone knew it.

"Alright, you jokers. Come on, get in the sound booth." Eli said, herding them into their places.

They closed the door to the sound booth and got into their positions, picking up their instruments. Ariel moved over to her case, pulling out the mandolin sitting within. It was a strange choice for a rock song, but they had all agreed that it fit for this particular one. For once, it hadn't been Ariel to write the lyrics, either - it was Gabriel. So when he had asked her to pull out one of her instruments, she couldn't say no.

 _The pictures tell the story  
This life has many shades  
I'd wake up every morning and before I'd start each day  
I'd take a drag from last night's cigarette  
That smoldered in it's tray  
Down a little something and then be on my way_

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 _With pride I'll wear it to the grave for you  
In a rose tattoo  
In a rose tattoo  
I've got your name written here,  
In a rose tattoo  
In a rose tattoo  
In a rose tattoo  
Signed and sealed in blood I would die for you_

They finished the song with a flourish, giving each other silent signs of congratulations until the sound technician told them that they had finished recording. As soon as they opened the door to the booth and came out, though, Eli was shushing them, trying to get them to be quiet.

"What is it, Eli?" Lee asked in a whisper. "What's wrong?"

But the man in question was smiling as he looked at the floor - more specifically, where Michael's car seat was. "He fell asleep almost as soon as you guys started playing." the large man whispered.

Ariel just looked at her son in amazement. "I don't believe it." she whispered. "How did _that song_ put him to sleep?"

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Morgan had sent Spencer outside to deal with his anger, and so the young genius did the only thing that he could think of - he called his wife.

"Hey, Spencer." she said cheerfully.

"Hi." he said shortly.

"What's going on, killer?" Ariel asked, her voice slightly tinny over the phone. "Are you okay?"

"There is nothing going on, Ariel. Everything is fine." Her husband snapped, then blushed slightly as he realized what he had just done. "Imagine I said that without snapping at you." He asked.

"I'm trying." She said, but there was a hint of amusement in her voice that let him know she wasn't too mad. "Now what's going on?"

Spencer sighed, running a hand through his hair before saying anything. "This town treats the UnSub like some sort of social pariah, just because he's different. The kid is a genius, but he's learning challenged… he was put through hell, Ariel, every day because he didn't fit the societal norms." His voice broke on those last few words, but he managed to keep talking. "His girlfriend? She was abused by her father, and I would have done anything to protect her…" he trailed off.

"Spencer?" Ariel said gently, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Spencer, sweetie, you said 'I'."

"What?" He asked, making a confused face before he remembered that she couldn't see him. "What are you talking about?"

"You said 'I would have done anything'." She repeated. "This case is reminding you of us, isn't it?" she asked gently.

There was a split second where he actually considered denying it. "Yeah." he finally admitted. "It is."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Unless you can figure out a way to get the UnSub to just give himself up…"

"Well," Ariel began, sounding hesitant. "What if you get the girlfriend out? If he is anything like you are, he'll do anything to keep her safe."

"So he'll turn himself in!" Spencer said, quickly catching on. "Thanks, Ari-bear, I have to go."

"Wait!" Ariel called, stopping him from hanging up at the last second. "I just wanted to say thanks for the flowers, Spence." she said. "Although I don't remember ever calling you darling."

He pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at it in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"The flowers that you sent?" she said, and he could hear Michael babbling in the background. "The note was signed 'your darling' - since when have I ever called you something so… I don't even know what to call it."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ari." Spencer said, feeling himself start to panic slightly. "I didn't send you any flowers."

"I'm sure it's fine, killer." she replied, trying to reassure her husband. "There was no name on the card - it was probably just delivered to the wrong address."

"Yeah, you're probably right." he decided. "Alright, I have to go honey. I love you."

"I love you too."

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He had been stressing about this phone call the entire day, until they were on the plane. He had tried to sit down to read, but as soon as he was sitting, Morgan was right next to him. "Have you talked to her yet?" he asked. Spencer sighed, closing his book.

"Not yet."

"You're gonna want to do it soon, kid. The longer you wait, the worse the end result will be."

"You're right." Spencer said, putting his book down on the seat next to him. "Wish me luck."

Echoes of 'good luck' came from everyone on the plane, not just Morgan.

"You're gonna need it." Rossi muttered.

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"You did what?" Ariel asked, her voice dangerously low. Spencer gulped, afraid of what her reaction would be.

"I went out in front of an armed UnSub without my Kevlar." he admitted quietly, waiting with baited breath to know just what his wife's reaction would be.

"SPENCER WILLIAM REID!" her voice was so loud that it could be heard clearly even after he pulled the phone away from his ear. The rest of the team looked up in surprise from their various seats on the plane, trying their hardest to keep from laughing at his pain-filled expression as he rubbed at his ears. Once he deemed it to be safe, he put the phone back up to his ear. "You are _supposed_ to be a genius!" she shouted, and although this time she was a lot quieter.

"I'm sorry?" he tried, hoping that that would help to appease his wife.

"Don't you 'I'm sorry' me." she snapped. "How could you do something so completely and utterly stupid? Don't you have any self-preservation instincts?"

"I couldn't just let him die, Ariel!" he fought back. "If I didn't go out there, he most likely would have tried suicide by cop, and that never ends well, not for anyone involved. I wasn't about to end up with blood on my hands again."

That made her pause. "Alright." she finally relented. "But if you ever do something like this again…" she trailed off.

"I promise I'll let you know before risking my life again." he said, and Morgan snorted a laugh at the strange response.

"Thank you." was his wife's response. "Okay, I've gotta go killer. Michael just woke up from his nap. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Oh, and Spencer?"

"Yeah?"

"You're sleeping on the couch for a week when I get home."

There was a minute or two of silence before Hotch crossed the plane to where Spencer was sitting.

"Well, I was going to yell at you for a minute or two." Hotch said, coming over to where Spencer was sitting. "But I think that Ariel covered everything I wanted to say."

 **Thank you to ahowell1993, PureNinjaInTheShadows, snowdrop65, and tlcroft** (you figured it out!) **for their reviews.**

 **This is the longest chapter so far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Spoilers for "In Heat".**

"Michael's sick." was the first thing that Ariel said to her husband during their phone call that night. The team was in Miami on a case, and had run into Will LaMontagne there. Of course, any thoughts about the case or gossip flew out of Spencer's head as soon as he heard the news.

"What?" Spencer asked, completely forgetting about anything else and focusing in on his son. "How bad is he? Do you need anything?"

"Another pair of hands would be great." she said dryly, before he heard crying over the line. "Shh, it's alright sweetheart." Ariel cooed, and he could picture her in his mind's eye - bouncing slightly as she moved around the room, trying to soothe their crying child.

"I just don't know what to do." She admitted a minute or two later. "You're the one that usually takes care of me when I'm sick, and tomato-rice soup isn't all that good for a six month old."

He heard another voice in the background, and Ariel laughed. "That was Kat." she told him. "She said 'it's not like I know how to cook, anyways.' Which is A TOTAL LIE!" she shouted the last few words, causing Spencer to wince as he pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Did you take him to the doctor's?" Spencer asked.

"Not yet." she replied. "He's got an appointment first thing tomorrow morning."

"Good." he replied. "Call me and let me know how it goes?" he asked.

"As long as you promise to pick up." she teased.

"Hey!" he protested. "When haven't I picked up?

"I've got one word for you, killer, and that is "'labor'." She said, laughing softly.

He groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Are you ever going to let that go?" He asked.

"Nope." was her only reply before Michael started crying again.

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"They finally admitted it." Reid said, the second that Ariel answered the phone.

"Admitted what?" Ariel asked, and he could hear music playing in the background.

"JJ and Will." he clarified. "They finally just gave in and admitted they were together."

She squealed. "Guys!" He heard her shout. "Guys, shut up for a minute!" The pounding of the drums in the background stopped, and he was able to hear her a lot better. "You'd better not be messing with me right now Spencer Reid." Ariel said sternly.

He just laughed. "I'm not, I promise."

"Excellent." She said gleefully, before passing on the news to whom Spencer assumed was the rest of the band. "Lee wants to know who won the betting pool." She relayed after a minute. "And I want to know if anyone has figured out who else on your team has a secret someone out there."

"I think Emily did." Spencer said, before pulling out the betting sheet that he had drawn up. He hadn't needed to - that big brain of his could have easily kept track of all of their bets - but this way Morgan couldn't tease him about it. "And what are you talking about?"

But Ariel just laughed. "Its nothing, killer." She said airily. "Hey, give me a few minutes, ok? I need to help Lee get Finn poured into a cab."

Spencer laughed, nodding his head before remembering that she couldn't see him. "Sure thing." He said.

"So how is the case going?" she asked once she came back to the phone.

"Its really fascinating…" Spencer began, settling into his bed for the night as he continued to talk about exactly what was going on with their current case. This was how most nights ended for them when they were apart - with each of them curled up in their respective beds, talking on the phone to each other until they fell asleep. Ariel would be sleeping in one of Spencer's t-shirts that she had stolen, and Spencer would have the pictures that he always kept with him.

It wasn't the best arrangement out there, but they worked with what they had.

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"Reid." Hotch called. They had just gotten home from their last case a few hours ago, and still had a couple of hours left working on paperwork before they could go home for the night.

"Yeah?" the young man in question called, not even looking up from the files that he was flipping through. He knew that Emily and Morgan had been slipping their files into the rest of his paperwork, and normally he would have scolded them for it. But at the moment doing their paperwork sounded a lot better than going home to a cold and empty house.

Maybe he'd get a cat or something to surprise Ariel and Michael with when they got home, just to keep him company. Not a dog, of course - he was allergic, and he didn't want to find out if Michael had inherited that particular trait.

"I need you and Rossi to go to Los Angeles to give a training seminar to the LAPD." Hotch said, finally getting Reid's full and undivided attention. "Is that okay?"

Reid smiled. Somehow, Hotch always seemed to know what he needed most. "That's perfect!" he said excitedly. "When are we leaving?"

Hotch gave a smile - or rather, his lips turned upwards slightly. "First thing in the morning, so go home and pack a bag."

 **I'm sorry about the horrible quality of this chapter, guys. My whole family - including yours truly - is down with the flu, and so things are more than a little hectic right now.**

 **Thank you to ahowell1993, ripon, PureNinjaInTheShadows, snowdrop65, and Guest for their reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

Rossi and Spencer were out in Los Angeles, taking a night off after their first day on a police seminar that Hotch had sent them out to give.

They had stopped by an art gallery that was run and owned by a classmate of Spencer's from high school, and while the younger man was dreading actually interacting with him, it was interesting to see all of the pieces that he had.

"Spencer!" a voice called out. "Spencer Reid!" A tall, well dressed black man came walking over to us.

"Dude, dude! Look at you!" he said enthusiastically, and gave the young genius a 'man-hug' that he barely managed to tolerate. Rossi was standing next to him, trying not to laugh at his obvious discomfort. "You look just the same!" he laughed. Spencer quickly put his hands in his pockets, hoping to hide the ring on his finger. Even if Parker had noticed it, there was no way he would believe that Spencer was married, and he didn't want to deal with the ridicule that he would throw his way. "Look at you dude, nothing's changed." Then he turned to look at Rossi as he said, "Spencer was the only twelve-year-old in our graduating class. Just the same."

Spencer forced a smile. "Thanks." he said, gesturing to Rossi. "This is, ah, Special Agent David Rossi." he said, introducing them. "This is Parker Dunley, we went to highschool together, as you can probably gather."

"Hi, how are you?" Rossi said, offering his hand. "This is a beautiful gallery that you have here."

"Thank you, thank you."

"Rossi's a big art enthusiast." he offered, and the Italian smirked.

"Although most of the paintings on my walls are older than dirt." he quipped.

"Well" Parker said. "We're exhibiting four up-and-coming artists in this show. Everything's for sale, and I can definitely swing a nice discount for a friend…" he trailed off as he turned to look towards the door, and then he said, "Ari."

Both of the agents looked toward the door to see Ari Ross walk through. Spencer's heart caught in his throat - even though he knew that it was really his wife and best friend, seeing her like that would still make him tongue-twisted. When she started walking towards them, he could see the smirk on her face and the mischievous gleam in her eyes, and he knew that he was in trouble.

Her hair had been straightened so that it fell almost to the middle of her back, and her lips had been painted dark red, with black on her eyelids. She wore black shorts and a gray tank top underneath a flowy black… thingy - even Spencer wasn't sure what it was called - with black lace gloves. She was practically covered in jewelry - several rings on each hand, cuffs around her wrists and a collar around her neck, along with a chain that was partially hidden underneath her clothes, which he knew held her wedding rings. She had several different fake piercings in, and wore three inch heels.

"Spencer, have you ever met a real live rockstar before?" he asked, and he could see Ari had to work to hide her laughter. That got him out of his shocked state enough to get a few words out, but that was it.

"No, no I can't say I have." he told him, trying to keep from smirking at all. He was definitely doing a better job of it than his wife was, at least - she looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel from trying to keep her laughter in. Her friend - obviously someone from her life here, although Spencer didn't recognize them in the slightest - was looking at her in concern, as if she was afraid something was wrong.

"Ari Ross, I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine." he said, and that was when Spencer took over.

As soon as he looked my wife in the eyes, though, it was like they had just met for the first time all over again. He wasn't used to being around Ariel's rockstar side, and it was nerve-wracking to say the very least. She was so similar to his wife, but just different enough that it threw him for a loop every time.

"Hiya killer." She practically purred. "What's your name?"

"Dr… Doctor Spencer Re- ah, Reid. But you can, you can call me Spencer, if you want?" He offered, mentally cursing himself for his behavior. Although he was really just distracted by seeing Ariel like this, Parker seemed to believe it was because he was starstruck.

"Alright then… Spence." she said, smirking up at him.

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"What's the matter, sweetie?" Ariel asked him as soon as they were alone. "You've barely looked at me since I got here." Out of the corner of my eye I could see her pouting. "Don't you like my outfit?" She teased.

"You know I do." Spencer replied. "That's why I can't look at you for long, because if I did I'd be too tempted to do unspeakable things."

Ariel laughed. "You charmer."

"Where's Michael?" he asked, keeping his voice down just in case someone was listening in.

"At home with Finn and Lee." She reassured him. "When I left Lee was trying to teach him how to play the drums." Spencer laughed, but stopped when he noticed something.

"You got another tattoo." he said, lifting a hand to trace over the new one, then stopped at the last second.

"Yeah, I just got it yesterday, actually. I fell asleep last night before I could tell you." She reached over her shoulder to run her fingertips over the new ink. It was another rose, a pale blue one. If you looked closely - and knew what you were looking for - you could see the name _Michael Gideon_ woven into the petals.

Suddenly, Rossi came over, grabbing onto Spencer's arm. "We're leaving." He said.

"What?" he asked, confused. "Why? We're still looking at the art."

"Ask your wife's crazy friend." Rossi said dryly. "Now let's get out of here before she finds me again."

Ariel grabbed a hold of her husband's wrist. "Meet me for lunch tomorrow?" She asked.

He nodded. "If I can get away from the seminar." he said, but they both knew that that wouldn't be an issue.

"See you then, killer." she called after him, watching with a smile on her face as they left.

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"So." Spencer began awkwardly as they drove back to their hotel after the show. "You didn't seem surprised to see Ariel there."

"That would be because I wasn't surprised to see her." Rossi answered, keeping his eyes on the road. "I'm a profiler, Spencer. I'm really just surprised that the rest of the team hasn't figured it out yet."

"How - how long have you known?" Reid asked. He was surprisingly nervous about the whole thing. He had known that there was a good chance of running into Ariel while he was with Rossi - Ariel and Parker had known each other as well, and he most likely invited her for the publicity. But he hadn't expected the older man to take it so well.

"Since Michael was born and I went with the guys to pick up stuff from your house." he explained as he pulled into the parking lot outside the hotel. "There were signs everywhere, but the most telling one was a picture hidden towards the back of a bookshelf."

Spencer immediately knew which one he was talking about. "The one of everyone at Madison Square Garden." he said, not even needing to phrase it as a question. It was one of Ariel's most prized possessions, that picture. Now it had a spot on her bedside table, but back then it had just been thrown there because they were still in the middle of moving into their new house.

"That's the one." Rossi said, nodding his head. "Although I didn't realize just how different she would look all dressed up. I never knew that she had all of those piercings, either."

"Those are fake, actually." Spencer laughed. "But yeah, I definitely know what you mean." he said, running a hand through his hair. "Even after all these years it's still strange for me." There was silence for another few minutes, right up until they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel. "Thanks for not freaking out, Rossi." Spencer said shyly.

"Of course, kid." the older agent said, before handing over the keys to the car. "Now go see that kid of yours. Just be back before we have to leave for the airport, alright?"

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Rossi and Spencer had been about to go back home to Quantico, when Detective Kim asked if they wouldn't mind staying for a little while longer. There was a shooting that had happened on their way to the airport, and the LAPD officer had asked them to stay for a little while longer, in order to help with this case. So they had called the rest of the team out, and were now gathered in the precinct, looking over the case.

"This guy's an assassin?" Detective Kim asked. He was perched on the edge of his desk, with one foot up on his desk chair as we talked with him about the case.

Morgan shrugged, spreading his hands. "When you look at the victimology, there's no obvious links. All of the kills are clean, except for the last victim, Jeremy Collins."

That was when Prentiss spoke up. "There's absolutely no evidence left at the crime scenes - no DNA, no manifestion of psycho-sexual release… and there's no detectable signature of any kind."

They were interrupted then by a man who was slightly familiar, at least to Spencer, although he wasn't exactly sure where he knew him from. He was short with dark, thinning hair that had been combed over his bald patch in order to attempt to hide the fact that he was going bald.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Detective Kim?" The man asked.

The detective in question nodded. "That's me." He said. "What can I do for you?"

The short man looked around at the BAU team nervously. "I'd prefer to speak with you in private, if that's alright." He hedged.

"These people are with the FBI." Detective Kim said. "You can trust them."

He didn't look like he believed that, but took a deep breath. "I have a client of mine here who is in need of your help. She says that she's somehow involved in this."

All of the agents in the room looked at each other in surprise.

"I'll go talk to her." Morgan said, getting to his feet. "Come on, kid - you're with me."

Spencer followed Morgan toward the room that the publicist was taking them to while he dialed Ariel's phone number to let her know that he wouldn't be able to make it for lunch. But as soon as he pressed the call button, he heard "Safe and Sound" playing in another room - the ringtone that his wife used for him. He pushed past both of the other men, ignoring their protests and rushed into the room. Ariel, Kat, and Finn were sitting in there, and they looked up as soon as he entered. He ignored Finn and Kat, though, as soon as he saw the fear in Ariel's eyes.

"Ariel?" Spencer asked, kneeling beside her. "Ariel, what's happened? Where's Michael?"

"He's fine." Finn reassured. "He's with Lee and Gabe, and Eli."

But then Ariel turned to look at him, and his heart nearly stopped beating at the pure fear and anguish on her face. "Oh god, Spencer!" she said, before collapsing into his arms in a sobbing mess. "I don't know what to do!"

"Hey, who the hell are you?" the publicist asked rudely, at the same moment that Morgan asked, "Did you just say Ariel?"

 **Sorry, bit of a cliffhanger there.**

 **I had so much fun writing Ari Ross, who in my mind is almost a completely different character to Ariel Reid. Let me know what you think of her!**

 **Thank you to Guest, ahowell1993, tannerose5** (don't worry… Lila has been dealt with already :P) **, tlcroft, snowdrop65, Guest, ripon, PureNinjaInTheShadows, and MyNameIsMordecai for their reviews! Y'all are brilliant!**


	7. Chapter 7

" _Hey, who the hell are you?" the publicist asked rudely, at the same moment that Morgan asked, "Did you just say Ariel?"_

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"Get off of my client!" the publicist demanded, moving over to try and actually pull Spencer away from his sobbing wife. Finn quickly got up from his seat and got in between the two men, while Kat just rolled her eyes.

"Sorry Spencer." she said, and although her tone of voice was casual, she still hadn't looked away from Ariel for even a second. "He's new - hasn't been clued in on everything yet. Hell, he doesn't even know about FinnLee yet."

Spencer looked slightly surprised at that information. "You mean they've both managed to keep it in their pants that long?"

"We're not that bad!" Finn protested. Kat, Spencer, and even Ariel all snorted at that. Spencer turned his attention back to his wife.

"Hey, Ariel." He said soothingly, running his hand over her hair. "What's going on?"

She barely managed to point to the envelope that sat on the conference table in front of her. He picked up the envelope and looked it over, noticing the address on it: _from your darling_ had been typed onto the back of it. A chill ran down his spine before he even got the envelope open, remembering flowers that had been sent before with that same signature.

"Morgan, I need you to get the team." Spencer said, his voice soft.

There was a second where Reid thought that Morgan was going to protest, but then the older man nodded his head. "Sure thing, kid."

As soon as Morgan left, Kat spoke up. "Come on, lovebirds." she said, gesturing to Ariel and Spencer. "Let's go get something to drink before we have to deal with people."

Once everyone else had left the room, the publicist turned to look at Finn. " _That's_ Ari Ross's husband?" He squeaked, looking pale. But Finn just smirked.

"Yup." he said cheerfully. He had noticed how the new guy was constantly mooning over Ariel, and was glad that he would stop now. At least, he would if he had any common sense. "Doctor Spencer Reid - they've been married for almost seven years now. You won't find a couple better suited for each other anywhere." He let his smile disappear then. "But if word of this gets out to the media, you _will_ be held responsible. We're very private, and there are things about our lives that no one needs to know about for one reason or another. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

The publicist nodded, looking slightly terrified. Finn could be slightly imposing at the best of times, but at the moment he looked downright threatening.

Finn smiled, with far too much teeth. "Good." he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm glad we understand each other."

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"Hey guys." Morgan called out as he came through the doorway back into Detective Lee's office. "We need you in the conference room, pronto."

Everyone looked confused, but got up to follow him anyway. Once they reached the conference room, though, they saw exactly why he had looked so confused.

"Oh crap." Rossi said, giving both Spencer and Ariel a sympathetic look. "I'm assuming this isn't how you wanted everyone to find out."

"Hang on." JJ said, looking as confused as everyone else. "Ariel, what are you doing here?"

"You guys know Ari Ross?" Detective Kim asked, looking at the BAU team with a mixture of confusion and surprise.

"Who?" Emily asked, looking at both the detective and Ariel suspiciously.

"Ari Ross." the detective said, looking at the team as if they were insane. "She's the lead singer for Undiscovered Nemesis. The band has really been climbing the social ladder, but the surprising thing is how private they are." then the detective glanced at Ariel and Spencer's clasped hands. "Although now I can see why you'd want to keep things private."

Ariel gave him a small smile in thanks, but Spencer was too busy dealing with the questions from his teammates to even spare him a glance. Finally, the young genius got fed up with all of the questions.

"Guys!" he shouted, getting his team to quiet down. "I promise I'll explain everything to you later on, okay? But for now can we please focus on the case?"

"Of course." Hotch replied, even though everyone could clearly see the curiosity burning in his eyes. "What's going on?"

Ariel held out the contents of the envelope. It was a clipping out of a tabloid magazine, with a lurid title in large, bold print across the top - _HOTSHOT GETS SHOT._ The picture next to the article was of a pretty brunette woman, whose eyes had been x-ed out with a red marker. That same marker had written in a large messy scrawl under her face: YOU OWE ME.

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"How well did you know Natalie Rushman?" Hotch asked. Both Finn and Kat had left, saying that they would be with Michael if they needed them. Detective Lee had looked a bit confused at that, but no one had felt the need to elaborate.

"Not very well." Ariel admitted. "We met a couple times at different album release parties, and I think that she and Gabe hooked up a couple of times, but that was it."

"What about Ellie Newman?"

"What about her?" Ariel asked, looking concerned. "Is she okay?"

"Did you know her?" Spencer asked, and Ariel nodded.

"Yeah… yeah, she was our opening act for a tour a few years ago." Ariel said. "She was really sweet. Amazing voice, too. I even helped her with a few songs."

"Have you ever had the feeling that anyone was following you?" Morgan asked. Ariel just laughed dryly.

"This is LA, Der. You're lucky if you can get home at night without the paparazzi sneaking into your yard. Why do you think I've worked so hard to keep Michael and Spence out of the spotlight? I don't want this life for them."

"I need you to concentrate, Ariel." Hotch said, stern as always. "Has anything happened recently that seems out of the ordinary?"

"Something repetitive." Rossi added. "Easily noticed."

"What do you mean?"

"Repetitive phone calls with hang ups, gifts left anonymously…" he continued, and noticed the look on her face when he mentioned gifts. "What happened?"

"It started with flowers, always signed 'your darling'." Ariel began to explain, wringing her hands as she spoke. "I thought that they were from Spencer at first - he does stuff like that a lot. But then I mentioned it to him, and he had no idea what I was talking about."

That was when Spencer spoke up, squeezing his wife's hand gently.

"I should have figured it out." he lamented. "But we both just thought that it was a mistake - that someone screwed up the delivery."

"What about the note?" Morgan asked. "Where did you find it."

Ariel looked truly terrified then. "It was sitting on the kitchen counter this morning when Michael and I came downstairs to make breakfast." she said quietly, and they could all see the blood draining out of Spencer's face as he processed the information.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"I swear, every door and window was locked!" she protested, and Spencer gave her a look.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You have been known to be a bit forgetful when it comes to locking up at night…" he trailed off when he saw the look that his wife shot him.

"Really, Spencer?" she hissed, looking irritated. "I can't believe that you would suggest that." she looked hurt. "I've been known to get drunk on occasion, too, and go out to wild parties all night, but you don't see me doing that anymore, either."

Spencer held up his hands in a show of surrender. "You're right, you're right… I'm sorry."

"So Natalie Rushman and Ellie Newman were rivals of yours." Prentiss theorized. "And Chloe Harris, she looks a lot like you, don't you think?"

"I guess?" Ariel said. "Who is she?"

"A potential rival." JJ said softly. "She was murdered, too."

So all these... People are being killed because of me?" Ariel said softly, looking heartbroken. Her publicist tried to rest a soothing hand on her shoulder, but she shot him a look and shrugged him off.

"It's possible." Rossi admitted.

"I'm sorry... I can't. I have to go." Ariel said, looking paler than any of them had ever seen her before getting up from her seat and running out of the station.

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As soon as Ariel ran out of the station, Spencer was hot on her trail. "Ariel!" He called, forgetting where they were for the time being. "I mean, Ari! Wait!" She stopped at the curb, running a hand through her hair as she turned to look at him.

"What do you want, Spence?" she asked, sounding exhausted. "I just… I want to go home to Michael right now. I want to curl up in bed with him, and practice sign language, and pretend that none of this is happening." She grabbed his hands. "Now, tell me the truth. What are the odds that this is going to turn out okay? Give me all the details you know, and don't leave anything out."

"It's still rather speculative, but it appears there's a delusional assassin who's killing people to help further your career. They probably started as a stalker, an erotomanic stalker. There's a psychopathology of the evolution of these types of stalkers. The fact that they're contacting you indicates that they believe you owe him something. This will end in one of two ways: either the stalker will kill himself… or they'll kill the object of their affections." Spencer admitted, ending his little ramble. While he knew that Ariel had wanted to know the truth, it still hurt to see the fear in her eyes.

But that fear was quickly hidden behind a mask, which might have hurt even more to see. Ariel had never used a mask around him before, no matter what. "You always know what to say to make a girl feel better."

"What did you want me to say?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry." Ariel said softly. "I just can't help panicking. They were in the house, Spence." Ariel said, looking up at her husband. "They could have hurt our baby, damnit!"

"I know, Ari-bear. Don't worry." Spencer said, placing a gentle kiss against her cheek. "We're going to figure this out, I promise."

 **And so we've reached the end of another chapter. Thank you to ahowell1993, snowdrop65, tannerose5, PureNinjaInTheShadows, Peachee1, MyNameIsMordecai, ripon, and tlcroft for their reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

Spencer took Ariel home after their conversation outside, only coming back into the police station so that he could tell Hotch where they were going.

Ariel flagged down a cab while he was inside, and was sitting in it waiting when he came out. "Ready, Agent Reid?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Spencer rolled his eyes - he had a feeling she was going to be having too much fun torturing him over the next few days by insisting that they act professional.

"Of course, Miss Ross." he said, smirking back at her. Two could play at this game. Because now he could see that she was using this as an excuse to try and forget about everything that was going on around them. Normally he would have been against the idea, but he was more than willing to go along with it this time.

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While Spencer spent time with his family, the rest of the team was busy going over all of the old crime scenes.

Morgan and Rossi had gone to the crime scene from earlier that morning, while Hotch and Prentiss went to visit the coroner. Meanwhile, JJ had stayed behind at the station to start coordinating with the local LEOs.

"Hey Rossi." Morgan called out as he moved towards the window. "Check it out. There's people taking photos of us in the next yard." Hotch had sent them to look over the most recent crime scene while he and Prentiss went to talk to the medical examiner for the older cases.

"Yeah, welcome to LA." Detective Kim said, leaning against the wall. "The damn paparazzi can't seem to keep their noses out of anyone's business."

"That's not good." Rossi said, giving Morgan a look. Morgan shook his head in reply.

"Especially not for the lovebirds." he replied.

"So they're….?" Detective Kim began to ask, but he trailed off. He didn't want to make the wrong assumption, especially not about a member of their team.

"Married, yeah. Almost seven years now." Agent Morgan said, rolling his eyes. There was no malice in his expression, though. More like fond exasperation.

"It's almost sickening, really." Rossi added. "They're so in love."

"Just a word of advice, guys." Detective Kim said. "I wouldn't talk about those two with the paps right outside if I were you. Otherwise there's the possibility of it being all over the tabloids by morning."

The two agents shared a look before Morgan smiled. "You're a good man, detective." he clapped the other man on the shoulder. "There aren't many people out there who'd be willing to cover for those two geniuses."

The detective waited another minute or so before saying anything else. "It sort of makes sense, though." He mused.

"What does?" Rossi asked, looking up from the crime scene photos of the body that he was studying.

"That they're… you know." the man said, being careful of what he said, just in case there were any people eavesdropping nearby. "She's known for avoiding romantic relationships with other celebrities - she even refuses to kiss anyone for the music videos of the few love songs that they've got out."

Morgan chuckled. "That doesn't surprise me. As much of a spitfire as the little one can be, she's insanely loyal."

"Little one?" Detective Kim asked.

Both FBI agents laughed. "Yeah." Rossi said. "You have seen her, right? Rockstar or not, Ariel Reid - or Ari Ross, whatever it is that you want to call her - is a tiny woman."

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The cab pulled up to the outside of Ariel's house, dropping them off. As soon as it was far enough away to not be seen, Ariel pulled her husband against her, practically devouring him in the middle of her driveway.

"Not here, killer." She said as soon as he started to kiss her back, pulling away just enough to dig her keys out of her purse. She pulled him up to the door by his tie - not that she had to do much pulling in the first place - before unlocking the door. Spencer practically dragged her inside, and she couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up. He had never been very patient, but then again he had been waiting for almost a month now.

He practically attacked her as soon as they were inside and the door had been shut behind them.

"Spencer." Ariel said breathlessly, pushing her husband away for a moment. "Spencer, not here either. Everyone is still in the room."

He stopped his attack on her throat, backing away blushing. "Right… sorry."

But Ariel just smirked, grabbing a hold of his tie and using it to drag him back to her. "Oh no you don't." She said, smiling wickedly as she pulled him closer. "I never said you could stop."

"Oh come on mermaid, really?" Finn groaned, looking nauseated by their little display. Ariel just flipped him off, but Finn's comment was what broke her husband out of her thrall. He pulled away, blushing as red as a tomato.

"Hey!" Eli called out, covering Michael's eyes with one hand. "Little children in the room!"

Spencer broke out into a huge grin as he saw Michael sitting on Eli's lap. He crossed the room, picking up their son and spinning around with him in a circle. Michael laughed, his wispy curls of brown hair flying as he shook his head. "Hey, buddy." Spencer said happily, curling his son up against his chest and letting his head rest against his shoulder.

"How ya been, kid?" Eli asked as he pulled Ariel down next to him on the couch.

"Okay, I guess." Spencer said, even as he continued to make silly faces at his son. "Our cases have been a bit harder than normal, especially any that deal with children."

"And this case?" Gabe asked, leaning back against the wall. "What's up with it?"

Spencer sighed. "To be honest, we're not completely sure yet." he answered, then turned to Ariel. "But until the UnSub is behind bars, I'm not letting either of you out of my sight."

She rolled her eyes, but her fondness was blatantly obvious. "Whatever you say, Agent."

 **Thanks to ahowell1993, tannerose5, tlcroft, snowdrop65, and ripon for their reviews!**


	9. Chapter 9

**So I am currently on a train, heading to Pennsylvania for a week. Hopefully that means that amidst all the panic and confusion caused by figuring out changing trains and all that, I'll be able to bang out a few chapters today.**

 **Also, I know that this case has been slow going, and sorry for that. But this case involves lots of stuff - both canon and AU, involving both of the Reid's public and private lives. I'm still not sure if this is when the rest of the world will find out about Ari Ross's private life. Let me know what y'all think!**

The rest of the band left about an hour or so after Spencer and Ariel got back home. Spencer had spent most of that time going over security with his wife - or at least trying too. Ariel had rather successfully distracted her husband after only ten minutes of his lecturing.

"I still wish that you would let us take you both to a safe house." Spencer worried, running his hands through his hair."

"We are safe here." Ariel said, holding her head high as she balanced Michael Gideon on her hip. "And do you know why?" She crossed the room, staring up at her husband in determination. "Because you're here, and you're going to protect Michael and me. It's that simple."

He rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the slight blush that formed on his cheeks. It always amazed him just how much Ariel trusted him. No matter what happened, he knew that she would always have faith in him, and that was all he needed to keep him going.

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It was after dark by the time the BAU team pulled into the driveway of Ariel's house. It was a large house towards the outer limits of Los Angeles, with white-plastered sides and a red-orange tiled roof. Scraggly bushes and flowering cacti lined the walkway, and the they could see part of a pool behind the house.

The front door was unlocked, making the team anxious. They all pulled their guns, hoping that they weren't too late to stop the UnSub from harming anyone inside. Morgan and Rossi went around the back, while JJ, Hotch, and Prentiss went inside to search the house.

What they found was something none of them had expected. They had been expecting to find blood, and possibly the dead bodies of their friends.

Instead they found Spencer and Ariel sitting on the couch, playing Mario Kart. They only stopped when they heard footsteps on the hardwood floors. Spencer was on his feet immediately, his gun in his hands. Ariel turned around, raising an eyebrow when she saw the standoff that was currently going on.

"I won, sweetie." she said simply, not even bothering to act surprised at what was happening.

"What are you guys doing?" Spencer asked after a minute, placing his revolver back into the holster at his waist.

"The door was unlocked." JJ replied as they all put their guns away as well. "We thought something was wrong."

Spencer turned to look at his wife, shooting her a mock glare. "No, it just means that someone forgot to lock the door again."

Ariel made an apologetic face, although it was obvious she didn't really mean it. "Oops?" She offered.

Spencer rolled his eyes.

"I think its about time you two explained things." Emily said, throwing herself down on the couch. "For instance," she began, pointing at Ariel. "When did you start leading a secret life?"

"About six years ago, when the band first started to get big." Ariel said, tucking her legs up underneath her on the couch. "My maiden name was Ross, so that's where that part of my stage name comes in."

"But why?" Morgan asked, leaning against the living room wall. A large collage took up pride of place next to his head.

"Why what?" Ariel asked.

"Why do you do the whole 'secret life' thing. Its gotta be exhausting." He clarified.

But Ariel just laughed. "It is." She admitted. "But Spencer and I are private people - and so are everyone else in Undiscovered Nemesis. It was a group decision, one that we all stand by. We all have people and relationships that we want to keep out of the limelight, and so we keep things quieter than most groups."

"How do you do it?" JJ asked, looking curious. "How do you keep people from recognizing you, I mean."

Spencer laughed. "Oh, trust me, she does an excellent job." He said dryly, and Rossi nodded in agreement.

"Isn't that the truth." The older agent said.

"It's basically just a combination of clothes, makeup, and fake piercings. That, and I've been told that I act different when I'm being Ari."

Spencer snorted. "She's even more of a flirt than she usually is."

Morgan looked at his friend in disbelief. "Is that even possible?"

"I saw it, Derek." Rossi said, testifying. "She had our Doctor Reid tongue-tied."

"Hey!" Ariel protested. "I'm not that bad!"

"Hang on." Morgan said, although he seemed disappointed to be cutting things short. "Before we keep on goin' with this, let me get Garcia on the line." Everyone nodded their agreement

"Hey hot stuff." Morgan said as soon as the woman in question answered her phone, turning it on to speaker phone.

"What can I do for you, my beautiful behavioral analyst?" she asked, and Ariel couldn't help but giggle. She wondered when everyone else would be able to see what she already knew.

"We've got news for you, baby girl." Morgan said. "You sittin' down?"

There was a pause, and then she answered. "Yes, now what's going on, Derek?"

"Ariel is the target in our latest case, mama." Morgan said.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense." Penelope said, and they could hear her tapping on her keyboard. "This says that the target is twenty-five year old Ari Ross, the lead singer of Undiscovered Nemesis. Don't mess with me, mister."

"Hey Penny." Ariel said, grabbing the phone out of Morgan's hands. "It's me."

"Ariel!" Penelope said, sounding surprised. "What are you doing there?"

"The gang's at my house, Pen." Ariel told her. "Der actually isn't messing with you for once."

There was no response for several minutes. "Penny? Pen, are you there?" she turned to look at Morgan. "I think I broke your girlfriend."

Morgan laughed. "Yeah, sure, little one." Then he took the phone from her, and turned away, taking it off of speaker phone.

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They continued talking for a few hours more, before Ariel started yawning. She stood up from where she had been sitting curled up against Spencer and stretched. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight everyone."

Spencer moved to follow her up to bed, but she stopped in the middle of the staircase. "And just where do you think you're going?" Ariel asked, putting her hands on her hips as she raised an eyebrow at her husband. The rest of the team stopped what they were doing in order to stare at the two youngest members of their family.

"To bed." he said, as if it were obvious. But Ariel just laughed and shook her head.

"Oh, no. You're sleeping on the couch, remember?" she said. His face fell, and he gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Please?" he asked, trying his best to keep a smirk off of his face. If there was one thing that Ariel would always fall prey to, it was the puppy dog pout.

But she turned around, putting her hands over her eyes. "Oh no you don't!" she said, walking up the stairs without looking back at him. "You're not pulling that again! You were stupid, and didn't wear your Kevlar, so now you have to face the consequences."

By that point, the entire team was practically in tears from laughing so hard. They watched as Spencer slumped down the stairs, exaggerating his movements in a last ditch effort to get his wife to change her mind.

"Goodnight, Spencer." Ariel called down the stairs, still refusing to turn around. "The rest of you guys are welcome to camp out here if you want. There are spare bedrooms upstairs - Spence can show you where they are."

 **A/N~ Thank you to ahowell1993, snowdrop65, and ripon for their reviews!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't claim to be an expert in ASL, so please don't be offended if you are and I get things wrong. But this chapter adds into my own little idea that the band is constantly using ASL to pass messages in boring meetings.**

 **So this is one of the very first chapters that I ever wrote for Ari Ross, even back before I knew what this story would turn into. The song used is Rebel Love Song, by Black Veil Brides. To truly understand what the song is about, watch the director's cut of the music video - it's really good. Undiscovered Nemesis's version of the video is almost identical, only with Ariel in the place of Marilyn, and Spencer in the place of the guy, along with any dialog changes that I come up with.**

 **The next chapter will be the end of this story arc, and then we'll get back to the usual cases and things. I think I might have gotten a bit too obsessed with the details where this case was concerned, sorry about that!**

 **Last bit of this A/N, I promise - thank you to tlcroft for the hilarious idea!**

"Sorry I'm late, everyone." Ariel called out as she headed into the studio where Undiscovered Nemesis was going to shoot their music video later that day. Her 'security detail' followed along behind her, and she had to work to keep from laughing every time she turned around at the looks on both of their faces. It was slightly ridiculous how overprotective both Spencer and Morgan were being, but at the same time it was kind of cute. Ariel had texted the rest of the band last night before she fell asleep, so they didn't react to seeing the two agents like they normally would have. Instead, they acted concerned like everyone else in the room.

"What's going on, lil mermaid?" Finn asked, getting up from where he had been sitting with everyone else. But as soon as his hands came into view, she could see what he was signing: _how are you feeling?_ It was as close as he could technically get to signing "How're you holding up?"

Ariel signed back a quick reply: _not too good._ Ever since Michael had been born, the band had slowly began to use sign language more and more to communicate, both to help practice the language and to keep nosy studio execs and paparazzo from being able to listen in.

"These two gorgeous boys are going to be my 'security detail' for the next few days." she told everyone, putting air quotes around the words. The band already knew everything - the real story behind what was happening - but they had had to decide on a cover story for everyone else that they would be interacting with until the BAU team were able to solve the case. The entire team had slept over at her house the night before, and Michael had spent the night tucked in with her, while Spencer slept on the couch. The only problem was that Morgan had decided to camp out outside of Ariel's bedroom in an attempt to keep both her and Michael safe. That morning, the team had decided that Spencer and Morgan would act as Ariel's guards for the day, while JJ watched Michael. The rest of the team had headed back to the precinct with Detective Kim.

"Everyone, these are Supervisory Special Agents Derek Morgan and Dr. Spencer Reid." Ariel said, pointing to each of the men as she introduced them. "Killer, Der, this is everyone. You already met Finn and Kat. This is Lee and Gabe, our band's manager Eli, and a bunch of people from either the production company or the music video people." Spencer knew for a fact that Ariel knew the names of every one of those people. She was just good with names in general. So he wasn't sure why she refused to call them by their names, but he decided that he would figure that out later.

"Good to meet you, gentlemen." Eli said, pulling out a chair for Ariel. "Right then. Introductions are over, now let's get down to business."

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After a few hours of meetings, they were finally able to leave the room to head down to the set where they would be recording their music video. "So what do you guys think of the rockstar life so far?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at her husband and his best friend.

"I think its boring." Morgan said bluntly. "I swear, I was about ready to shoot some of the people in there just so they would stop talking."

Ariel laughed, nodding her head. "Trust me, I know exactly what you're talking about. Lee and I started talking about ten minutes in just so we could stay awake." Then she smiled. "Although it wasn't so bad once Lee and I started talking."

Spencer groaned, having some idea as to what they would have been gossiping looked confused.

"What're you talking about?" Morgan asked, looking confused. "You couldn't have been talking - you were sitting on opposite sides of the room."

Ariel turned, walking backwards as she continued talking. "Yes we were." she said, signing as she spoke. "You just didn't see us."

"Where are we going?" Spencer asked, and she smiled softly at him.

"Down to where Hair and Wardrobe have set up their stuff." she said, grabbing her husband by the hand and dragging him along. "Come on. Kat's busy with her guitar, so I need someone to help me try on clothes."

Morgan snorted a laugh. "I'll help." he offered, and then he laughed when Ariel shot him a dirty look.

"Why don't you go shopping with Penny, instead?" Ariel replied with a sly smirk. "I'm sure she'd love your help."

Morgan's smirk fell, and he just watched for a minute as the pair walked away - or rather, got dragged away. "Damn." He muttered. "That girl doesn't know the meaning of the word 'subtle', does she?"

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It took a record of twenty-three minutes for Ariel to get irritated once they made it to Wardrobe. She claimed to always have issues with them, and the rest of the band had turned it into a game to see how long it would take for her to get mad each time they visited.

She came out in outfit after outfit, and each one was quickly decided against, for many different reasons. The main complaint was that most of the outfits she was given were very 'girly'.

"I get that we're doing a love song, but that doesn't mean I have to wear hot pink!"

It finally got to the point where even Spencer was about ready to give in and tell his wife to just go out there naked. So after the last dress, he grabbed Ariel by the shoulders, putting her into the chair that he had been sitting on.

"What are you doing, killer?" Ariel asked, looking surprised as she sat down in the chair. She pulled off the four-inch stilettos that the wardrobe assistant had put on her, rubbing at her feet.

"I'm finding you something to wear, now stay put." Spencer ordered.

Ariel smirked. "Yes, Agent." she purred, and he blushed, trying to stutter out a response before giving up.

He could hear her laughter echoing behind him even as he disappeared into the racks of clothing. It took him all of five minutes to find something, and then he grabbed the battered combat boots that she had worn that morning, bringing them out to Ariel. "Put this on."

Ariel looked the dress over quickly, then shrugged her shoulders, smiling. "Not bad, killer." She said, teasing him. "Especially for a man who still thinks sweater vests are fashionable."

"I thought you liked my sweater vests." Spencer replied.

"Oh, I do." She was quick to reassure as she pulled off her clothes and threw on the dress. "There's really no doubt about that." she added as she sat down to finish lacing up her boots. "There. What do you think?"

He took the opportunity to give her a once-over, then smiled. "You look amazing." He said honestly. She wore a white dress covered in a pattern of purple flowers, and if you looked closely you could see the skulls nestled into the flowers, with her battered and worn combat boots that she had had since high school.

"Good." She said in relief. "That just leaves Hair and Makeup to deal with, and then we can get started on the video."

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Spencer watched as the man that they had cast as the male lead in the music video flirted shamelessly with Ariel. He couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. While he knew that Ariel was his just as much as he was hers, it was still irritating to not be able to just go over and punch the guy in the face.

Luckily, he didn't have to do it. Because not two seconds later, Ariel did it for him.

Morgan burst out laughing, but Spencer just smirked while the director came running over.

"Miss Ross!" He called out, skidding to a halt, with Eli hot on his heels. "What on earth are you doing?"

Eli, on the other hand, was much less polite when it came to letting Ariel know just how pissed off he was. "What the hell was that?" He thundered.

"He grabbed my ass." Ariel said, completely unrepentant. "So I punched him."

"Oh, well that's alright then." Eli said, but buried beneath the sarcasm was understanding. If Spencer had been close enough to see the older man's face, he would have known just how furious he was. At the moment, he could only guess. Eli sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "You can't just punch people when they irritate you, Ari." He said.

"Fine." She huffed. "But I want him out of this video."

That got the director to explode. "Miss Ross, I can't possibly fire this man! There's no time to get a replacement in, and no one is better than -"

Ariel cut him off. "Yes there is." she marched over to where Morgan and Spencer were standing and grabbed her husband's hand, dragging him back over to where Eli and the video director were waiting. "He can be my S.O. in the video."

The director gave Spencer an unimpressed look. "You want _him_ to be the love interest?"

Ariel looked surprised. "What's wrong with that?" She asked, a hint of danger flashing in her eyes. "I think he's perfect for the role."

"I like it." Eli added, making the director turn to him in surprise. "You might not have heard about the threats on Miss Ross's life. Dr. Reid here is a part of the FBI team who is protecting her, as well as the rest of the band until the case is solved. It won't be a problem, will it?" He asked, as if the very idea was surprising to him.

The director looked flustered. "No, not at all, Elijah!" He said with forced happiness. "That won't be a problem."

Eli clapped the other man on the shoulder, hard enough for him to wince. "Good to hear it."

"Man, this is bullshit!" The now-fired actor yelled angrily.

Eli ignored him and turned to look at Ariel. "Do you want him like this or dressed differently?"

Ariel turned to look at her husband, tilting her head to the side as she asked him a silent question. _How do you want to do this?_

He shrugged, barely enough to be noticed. _Its up to you, Ari-bear._ He was saying.

But she didn't even hesitate in her answer. "I want him just the way he is."

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They were just waiting for the rest of the band to be finished in Hair and Makeup, now. They had already filmed the intro, and all the parts that involved Ariel. He was supposed to have been the suave, badass guy who saved her from a miserable, abusive home, which he thought was funny. He could tell that it brought up bad memories for her, though, because instead of jumping into his car like she was supposed to, she fell into the backseat instead.

So of course, he had said the first thing that came to mind: "Its - its okay, I don't, I don't bite or anything. You're actually more likely to be bitten by another human than a shark, actually. But I'm not one of those humans, so, um…" he had trailed off there, sure he had messed up everything.

But Ariel just did what she always did when he babbled - she had laughed, smiling softly at him. "Thanks, killer." She said. After that, it was almost like they were back in that awkward stage of dating, back when he was simultaneously infatuated with and completely terrified of her. At one point, she had pulled him in for a long, slow kiss that got more than one wolf whistle - as well as a few strange looks from the crew members nearby.

Now they were waiting for them to start recording the actual song, and both FBI agents stood off to the side, watching what was going on.

"You don't mind sharing with me, do you?" Ariel asked even as she grabbed the soda bottle out of her husband's hands.

"No, ah, no - no, I don't mind." He stuttered out. Ariel had just come back from the Hair and Makeup department, and was now covered in her signature piercings. A nose ring and snake bites made up the look for today's activities. Her lips had been painted dark red, while her eyes had been dusted in black. She hadn't been wearing the makeup for the original filming, but they had kept the piercings in. She took a few sips before handing the bottle back to him.

"Thanks killer."

Spencer couldn't help but let his eyes be drawn to his wife's butt as she walked away. "Eyes front, soldier." She called out as she walked away, not even bothering to turn around first.

"How could you possibly-" he started to call out, but she interrupted him, already knowing what his question was.

"Because I know you, Dr. Reid."

"You don't mind sharin' with me, do you?" Morgan teased, effectively snapping Reid out of his thoughts.

"Shut up." Reid retorted, even as he tried to stop choking on his soda.

He couldn't stop watching as Ariel made her way to the stage that they had set up.

"Ready guys?" She called out, and the rest of the band nodded. That was when an assistant came up to Reid.

"Excuse me, sir, are you Dr. Reid?" she asked. He nodded. "Someone left this for you at the front desk.

The band started playing as the woman handed Spencer a yellow manila envelope. "Thank you." The doctor replied absently, already motioning towards Morgan, who hurried over.

 _I cannot hide what's on my mind  
I feel it burning deep inside  
A passion crime to take what's mine  
Let us start living for today_

Spencer pulled out the note from inside the envelope, holding it out so that Morgan could read it at the same time. It was handwritten, just pencil scrawled on a sheet of looseleaf paper. "She is mine, and you cannot have her." Spencer read aloud, before sharing a look with Morgan.

 _Never gonna' change my mind  
We can leave it all behind  
Nothin's gonna' stop us  
No not this time_

The older man said what they were both thinking. "This isn't good."

 _This is a rebel love song_

 **A/N ~ I'm sorry if this story hasn't been as well-written as y'all are used to lately. To be honest, I had begun to lose interest in it for a bit. I'm still working on coming back to it all, but hopefully this chapter was up to standard.**

 **Thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, followed, or favorited!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry that this chapter got posted so late today - it was a really hectic day.**

"Yeah, we're pulling up out front now." Spencer said as Ariel pulled into the driveway. "There's a marked police car out front - we'll be fine, Garcia, I promise." He managed to calm down the technical goddess enough to finally be able to hang up the phone, much to his wife's relief.

"You know how much I love Penny - really, I do. But she can be smothering."

Spencer laughed softly. "Just imagine how bad she was after the Hankel case." He said dryly.

She groaned good-naturedly, but Spencer could see the pain in her eyes at the reminder of that terrible time. There was also relief mixed in with it - relief that they were now at a point where that time could be joked about, even slightly.

Spencer entered the house first, calling out for JJ and Michael before he let Ariel in through the door.

Of course, Ariel had to roll her eyes as she came through the door. "Everything is fine, Spencer - or as fine as it can be with a homicidal maniac chasing after me."

"I really wish you wouldn't joke about it." Spencer sighed.

They didn't have a chance to get any further into the argument that they had been having for the last day or so before JJ came down the stairs, carrying Michael with her.

"Hey, you two." JJ said, smiling when Spencer came right over to take Michael from her. "Thanks, Spencer." she said. "I've got to say, I don't know how you guys do this parenting thing.

"All it takes is finding the right partner, I guess." Ariel said, smiling softly at her husband, who was sprawled out on the floor, holding Michael above him so that it was like he was flying through the air. "That, and lots of patience."

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"Alright guys." JJ told them after another half an hour or so. "I'm going to head back to the hotel now." she said, picking up her purse from where she had left it in the kitchen. "Horch will be here tomorrow morning, so just make sure that you guys are decent before he gets inside."

Spencer sputtered, while Ariel just sent her friend a look. "Thanks, JJ." she said lightly, taking a sip of the tea that she had made for herself. "I think you broke him."

They could hear her laughter until she closed the door behind her.

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They spent a few hours after that just relaxing and playing with Michael - working on sign language with him, and making funny faces at him to get him to laugh.

Finally, it was time for Michael to go to bed. Ariel took him upstairs, leaving Spencer to clean up from dinner - the same routine that they had back in Quantico. Some nights those roles would change, but not that often.

When she came back downstairs, Spencer was standing by the wall, examining a painting that was hung there. It was a collage, made from different pieces of enlarged photos.

"This is new." He said as Ariel made her way over to her husband, tucking herself under his arm.

"Yeah, I like it." She said. She was about to tell him why, but then she saw the look on his face. "Spence, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." he said slowly, still staring at the collage. "But I think there's something hidden in here…"

He took the art down off of the wall, bringing it over to the kitchen counter. "I need a razor blade, do you have any?" he asked.

"I think there's a box cutter around here some place. Will that work?" she asked, and he nodded. Once he had that, it only took a few minutes for the collage to be cut apart, and then a few minutes more to reassemble it with all of the pieces in the right order.

Ariel was practically in shock by the time Spencer finished piecing it all together. "Ariel, where did you get this?" He had to repeat the question twice before she snapped out of it enough to give him an answer.

"From, um… from that guy who runs the gallery where we ran into each other when you first got into town. What was his name? Um, Peter… Patrick…"

"Parker." Spencer said, pulling out his phone. "Parker Dunley."

Spencer went to call the team, while Ariel was left staring in horror at the disassembled artwork.

It was a collage of pictures - every single one featuring Ari Ross.

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She could tell that whatever Rossi was telling Spencer wasn't good, because he had turned away from her. He was shutting himself off.

Finally, he hung up the phone. "Ariel, do you know someone named Phillip Lowe?" he asked, turning to face his wife.

Ariel looked at her husband in confusion for a second before nodding. "Phillip? Yeah, um… yeah. You met him, too - he's the new publicist that we got for the band. You met him at the police station."

That was when her phone started ringing. She picked it up, glancing at the screen. "Speak of the devil…"

"That's him calling?" Spencer asked, and Ariel nodded.

"Is he calling from a cell phone?" Spencer asked quickly, crossing over and kneeling in front of her. She nodded.

"Yeah." she said. "Spencer, what's going on? You're starting to scare me."

"We think Phillip is the UnSub." he told her, anxiously watching for her reaction.

"Well fuck." came her reply. "You really think that he's the stalker?"

Spencer nodded. "Answer the phone. I'm going to have Garcia run a trace on it - hopefully we can find out where he is and stop him before he hurts anyone."

She paused, looking scared. "I can't do it."

"Answer the phone, Ari-bear. Act completely natural. The longer you can keep him on the line, the more likely Garcia will be able to trace the call."

Ariel nodded, taking a few deep breaths before answering her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Phillip? Phillip, is that you?" She put the phone on speaker, so that Reid would be able to hear everything. "Phillip, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

While she began to stall Phillip, Spencer called Garcia. "I need you to run a trace from Ariel's phone, now." he said as soon as he heard the clicking sound that indicated she'd picked up the phone. Penelope must have known how urgent it was by the tone of his voice, because she didn't even bother with any of her usual comments - she just started typing.

"Keep her talking." Garcia advised.

"Phillip?" Ariel asked, getting slightly worried. He still hadn't answered, hadn't said a single word so far.

"I am so tired…" finally, he spoke.

"Tired?" Ariel asked, confused.

"There's been so much upset." Phillip continued. "In the world, really. It's just so… tragic. All of it."

"Phillip, are you drunk?" Ariel asked, and Spencer nearly rolled his eyes, even as he shook his head frantically. She put her hand over the speaker, so that Phillip wouldn't be able to hear what she was saying. "You told me to act normal, Spencer. This is normal."

"I miss you." he said, and they both froze. "I just do."

"Phillip." Ariel said gently, but she was shaking slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"I want you, you know." he said. "I miss you, even though I barely know you - does that make sense?"

Ariel looked at her husband, completely at a loss for words. He moved over to her, grabbing one of her hands in his in an attempt to comfort her. Apparently it worked, because she took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah, it does." She thought back to when Michael was first born, when anytime he was out of her sight, she missed him like nothing else. "It really does."

"You know, I did everything for you." he said softly. "And you don't even know me at all."

That was when Garcia's voice broke through, pulling Reid away from the conversation. "Reid," she asked. "Is Ariel's address 6028 Pike Street?"

"Yes." Spencer said, his voice guarded. "But you knew that already, so why are you asking?"

"Because I hoped I was wrong." Garcia said faintly. "The call is coming from inside the house. I'll get you some back-up."

"Ariel!" Spencer hissed, looking terrified. "How did he get into the house?"

"I don't know!" she said frantically, hanging up the phone. That was when they heard a crash, and Ariel went pale. "Spencer, Michael's up there."

He pulled his gun out of his holster, thumbing the safety off before taking the stairs two at a time. "Ariel, stay here."

She let out a dry laugh. "Don't even bother. I'm not staying while our baby is in danger."

He listed to her, letting her follow along - although he made sure that she stayed behind him at all times.

He led the way into their bedroom, clearing the way with his gun. He could see a shattered glass on the wooden floors, which made him think that they were in the right place.

Then he heard something that chilled his blood.

"Why did you have to bring these people here?"

He turned around quickly, only to see his worst nightmare. Phillip, the publicist, was behind his wife, holding a gun to her head. Ariel had frozen in place, but he could see her trembling slightly.

"Put down your gun." Phillip said, waving his own gun at Ariel.

"Phillip." Spencer began, trying to reason with the obviously insane man, but he didn't get any farther than that.

"Don't call me that, you don't know me." he said, moving around so that there was a clear line to the door. "Come on, Ariel. Let's go."

Ariel shook her head, making him hold the gun even closer to her head. Her face screwed up with unshed tears. "Come on, baby, we really gotta go." he said.

"Phillip, don't hurt her. Please." Spencer begged, his hands still in the air. "You don't need to hurt her."

The publicist scoffed. "You don't know anything." he sneered. "I would never do anything to hurt you. He continued, and Ariel flinched as he pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. "I helped create you."

But Ariel shook her head. "No you didn't." she said frantically.

Phillip drew back like he had been struck. "Yes. I. Did." He started to rant, waving the gun with every word he said. "I know I did. God, you stupid, ungrateful…" he trailed off, before readjusting his grip on the gun. "I can't believe that I loved you."

Spencer saw that as his opening. "Phillip?" he said softly, catching the other man's attention. " She - she loves me now."

Phillip looked at the younger man in shock, before moving the gun so that it was pointed at Spencer instead. "What?"

"She told me so. We were downstairs, and we made dinner. She kissed me. Now she loves me, okay?"

"No. No, no, no!" Phillip shouted, looking at the couple with pure hatred. Then he seemed to get ahold of himself. "Fine." he snarled, leveling the gun at Spencer's head. "Then if I can't have her, no one can."

And with that, he pulled the trigger.

 **A/N~ I'm sorry… I am so, so sorry.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially those who did their best to reassure me - it meant the world.**

 **Okay, so I lied before when I said that this would be the last chapter of this arc. The muse thought of something, and it just went in a whole different direction.**

 **Thank you to ahowell1993, ripon, tannerose5** (don't worry, there's still plenty of story to be told) **, tlcroft, and snowdrop65** (of course it is!) **for their reviews.**


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter has been a long time in the works, and for that I'm sorry. Thank you all for being patient with me. A lot of crap has been going on IRL lately, and I just needed time to get it all figured out.**

 **The song mentioned at the end of the chapter is "Break In" by Halestorm.**

" _No. No, no, no!" Phillip shouted, looking at the couple with pure hatred. Then he seemed to get ahold of himself. "Fine." he snarled, leveling the gun at Spencer's head. "Then if I can't have her, no one can."_

 _And with that, he pulled the trigger._

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Ariel screamed, even as she rammed into Phillip's arm, trying to mess up his aim. There was a moment where her heart stopped beating, when she thought to herself - _this is it, this is how I'm going to lose Spencer._

But the bullet missed his head by mere inches.

There was a split second of silence after the bullet hit the wall, and then they heard it - a cry from down the hall. Quiet at first, but it quickly grew louder before petering off again.

Michael had woken up, just for a few seconds. The sound of the gun firing had scared him awake. For the first time since he had gotten them, she cursed his new hearing aids, because they may have just cost him his life.

Phillip stared at the door, and Ariel looked at him in growing horror. "What was that?" he asked suspiciously.

"It was nothing, Phillip." she replied quickly, wanting to keep him distracted. "Nothing at all." It didn't matter what she had to do - she was going to keep this psychopath away from her baby at any cost. So she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for anything that might possibly happen, even as she shot her husband an apologetic look.

"Did you… did you mean what you said? What you said before, I mean… when you said you want me?"

Ariel turned to look at the deranged man, keeping her eyes trained on the floor in what she hoped he would interpret as nervous tension. In reality, she didn't want to look at him out of pure revulsion. But she needed to do this, she reminded herself. For Spencer, and for Michael. She remembered everything that her husband had told her about stalkers, and why they did what they did, and put that to use now.

She flinched when he put his hand under her chin, lifting her face so that she was looking at him. His eyes were pale blue, and had a broken quality to them, as if she could actually see the madness within them. She wondered why she had never noticed that before.

"Of course I meant it, darling." He said, running his thumb over my cheek. "Who could keep themselves from wanting you?"

Then he scowled, gripping her chin tightly in his hand. "But you've been a bad girl, darling. Not telling people you were married. If I had known, I would have dealt with him a long time ago." Phillip raised the gun again, aiming it straight at Spencer's heart.

"Wait." She said, right before he pulled the trigger. He turned to look at her, scowling. "Run away with me."

That made both men freeze. "Ari, what are -" Spencer began, before he was cut off by his wife.

"Shut up, Dr. Reid." she said harshly, glaring at him for a moment before turning back to look at Phillip. "Run away with me. We can be happy together, happier than I would ever have been with him. But just don't kill him, please. I can't stand violence."

The maniacal light in Phillip's eyes dimmed slightly, and he smiled at her. It wasn't a normal smile, like the kind that Spencer would give her - instead it seemed almost forced, and showed far too many teeth for comfort.

"Of course. Anything for you, darling." he vowed. "Anything at all."

Ariel smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "In that case, leave the gun behind. I hate them."

There was a moment when she thought that she had taken it too far, and that Phillip was going to shoot her. But then it passed, and he loosened his grip on the gun, dropping it on the bed.

She smiled. "Thank you." She said, and then she took him by the hand. "Come on. Let's go." She encouraged, trying to pull him out of the room. But he stopped, and turned to look at Spencer. Phillip slowly crossed over to the younger man, holding out his hand.

"Give me your handcuffs." the man said. But Spencer shook his head, staring at the other man in defiance.

Ariel rolled her eyes, not even having to fake her irritation at her husband. She was so close to at least getting him away from their son, and he was practically throwing it away. She walked over to the bedside table and opened up a drawer. "Here." She said, pulling out an item and throwing it at Phillip. "Use these."

Phillip went pale as he looked at them. "What's the problem?" Ariel asked, still rummaging through the drawer. "Just put them on him, and we can leave."

The insane man took a few steps forward, but stopped when Ariel spoke again. "Or you could put them on yourself, and save us all the trouble."

Phillip turned around to see Ariel standing there, holding a revolver in her hands - the same one that Spencer knew she kept in the drawer next to the bed. "Drop the gun, now." She said, her voice as threatening as it was scared. She kept her arms as steady as she could as she flicked off the safety.

The man barely had time to look furious before they could hear the sound of wood splintering from downstairs. "Spencer!" They could hear JJ calling. "Ariel!"

"We're up here!" Ariel called, turning her head towards the door so that her voice could carry farther.

Morgan came rushing into the room to see that both Ariel and Reid were completely fine. There was a hole in the wall, but that was easily fixable. What did have him curious were the fuzzy black handcuffs that were dangling from the UnSub's hands. Then he saw the gun in Ariel's hands. It was still aimed at Phillip's head, and her arms shook slightly.

"Hey, little one." he said calmly, sticking his gun back in its holster and holding his hands up to show that he was unarmed. "Ariel, I need you to put down the gun, okay?" his voice was gentle and soothing as he tried to calm her down.

"He… he was gonna kill him, Der." her voice shook. "He was gonna kill Spen, and Michael, and…" she trailed off, her mind moving too quickly for her mouth to keep up.

"I know, sweetheart." Derek said, moving a bit closer. "But everything's ok now." he took a few more steps. "I need you to give me the gun now, okay?"

There was a moment when he thought that it wasn't going to work, but then she loosened her grip on the gun and handed it to him.

"Phillip Smith, you are under arrest." JJ said as she cuffed his hands behind his back.

Spencer let out a sigh of relief as Ariel crossed the room to him, wrapping her arms around him. It was finally over.

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"Don't you think you overdid it a bit with the acting?" Spencer asked, and she managed a laugh through her tears. The small family of three was sitting in an ambulance outside Ariel's house, refusing to be too far away from each other even as Ariel and Spencer were checked over by the EMTs. "Also, did you really have to use the fuzzy handcuffs?" He knew that he would never hear the end of that one from Morgan, but it was completely worth it to have his wife safe in his arms.

"Shut the hell up, Spencer." Ariel managed to get out, along with a weak laugh, before burying her head in his chest once more. Michael had calmed down as soon as they were able to get to him, and he was now being looked after by JJ for the time being. She cried for another minute or so before looking up at him. "I didn't mean a word of what I said up there." she told him anxiously. "You know that, right? I love you, more than anything else. Except maybe Michael, but -" he placed his hand over her mouth, laughing slightly at her rambling.

"You know, normally I'm the one who does that." he teased, and Ariel blushed.

"How are you being so calm about all of this?" she asked him, and he looked slightly sheepish for a moment before answering.

"This wasn't my first time being held at gunpoint, you know." he told her, and Ariel grimaced.

"Please don't remind me." She begged, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry." He replied, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Ariel! Spencer!" They pulled away from each other slightly, before seeing that it was Kat and Finn.

"Oh god, where's Michael?" Kat fussed. Spencer just shook his head, a tiny grin pulling at the corner of his lips.

"He slept through the whole thing." Spencer told them, shaking his head slightly. "Other than a few seconds when he woke up, he slept through the whole thing."

Finn was amazed. "You've got to be kidding." he said, but Ariel shook her head as she curled into her husband's side.

"Nope." she said. "JJ's upstairs with him."

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It was almost a full day before they managed to see each other again, and even then it was bittersweet.

"So I guess this is goodbye." Spencer said awkwardly. The band had already hired a new publicist, and she was currently trying to pull Ariel back over to the car that she had hired for the band to take back to the studio.

"Not goodbye, killer." Ariel said, a hint of sadness in her otherwise playful tone. "Just see you soon, right? I'll be home in less than a month."

He smiled, reaching out to brush her hair back behind her ear before remembering where they were. The paparazzi could be - and most likely were - anywhere and everywhere, and they still weren't ready to reveal themselves to the public yet, so he dropped his hand back down to his side.

Ariel scowled in irritation, mad that she couldn't just kiss her husband when she felt like it. But at the moment it was necessary, until Michael was at least old enough to be out in public safely. "Fuck it." She hissed, before reaching up and wrapping her arms around her husband's neck, pulling him down to her level as she pressed her lips against his. It only took a few moments for him to give in and tangle his fingers in her hair.

They just stood there for a minute, lost in a moment of bliss and not caring who saw them.

"Alright, lovebirds." Rossi called out, getting them to pull apart. "Break it up."

Ariel rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at the Italian man, while Reid blushed. "Say goodbye to Michael for me?" Spencer asked, giving into his urge and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Of course." She promised, and then Kat came over, grabbing her by the hand.

"Come on, chica." Kat said, tugging on her arm. "You've got about five more seconds before our new commanding officer comes over here herself." She rolled her eyes, but her tiny smile showed just how little she actually cared.

"I swear, if this new chick wants to stay in this job, she'd better quit killing the mood." Ariel muttered, and Kat laughed as they left Spencer to head over to the waiting limousine.

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"Night, Hollywood." Morgan teased, holding up a tabloid that Garcia had picked up that morning on her way to meet the team at the airport. A picture of Spencer and Ariel kissing their goodbye was splashed across the cover, with the headline written across the picture in lurid red ink: _ARI ROSS'S NEW HEARTTHROB._

Reid couldn't help but groan at the headline. "Its completely ridiculous!" He protested, even though Morgan had heard it already. Garcia had shown them the headline as soon as they arrived, and had brought along a cap and sunglasses in case the young genius might need them. Luckily no one had recognized the FBI agent. "We've been married for going on seven years now - I'm not a new heartthrob."

Morgan smirked, realizing Reid's slip at the same time he did.

"Oh, but you are a heartthrob?" Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow, and Spencer blushed.

"That - that's not what I meant." he said, backtracking quickly.

"Oh really?" Morgan asked, turning around to stick the magazine into his desk. "Then what did you mean?"

"I - I meant…" Spencer began to explain, but he barely even got that out before Morgan was leaving the bullpen, not even giving his friend a chance to explain.

"Whatever you say, kid."

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It was nearly a week later when Garcia came running into the bullpen, carrying her laptop in her hands.

"Hey, hey." Morgan called out from where he sat. "Where's the fire, hot stuff?"

"Right here, sweetness." Garcia replied, putting her laptop down on his desk and opening it up. "Gather round, my furry friends." she instructed, and everyone on the team that was in the bullpen did as they were told, gathering around.

She queued up a video on the E!News website, entitled "Break In with UN"

"And in other news, Undiscovered Nemesis has put out their latest single - a soulful love ballad, entitled 'Break In'. Fans are speculating that the song was written about the still unknown man that the band's lead singer, Ari Ross, was seen with last week. When asked, the band's new publicist had this to say:"

There was a pause, and then a video clip began playing. "I'm sorry, we won't be commenting on the matter at this time." A professional sounding woman said, looking harried. It wasn't even a few seconds before Kat appeared in the frame, her dark blue hair pulled up into tiny buns as she scowled at the camera. "Yeah, cause its none of their damn business, bloody vultures."

That made the team start laughing, but what made them laugh even harder was whenever Ariel joined in. They heard her before they saw her. "Actually, no. Here's a statement for you." She was raging, her face flushed, hair flying, and Spencer thought she had never looked more beautiful. "Its none of your damn business whose throat I choose to stick my tongue down, or who I write songs about. Now don't you have nudes to leak or something?"

The clip continued on, but no one was listening anymore. "The band has also made a statement regarding the FBI protection detail that followed their lead singer, Ari Ross. Because of the traumatic events, the band will be leaving LA in two weeks, instead of in six weeks like originally planned."

There was a moment of shocked silence, before the clip ended. Then Spencer spoke. "I… I'm going to go call my wife." He said, sounding both proud and like he was about to burst into laughter before heading out of the bullpen.

 **I am sorry to all of you who have read this story for so long, but the Ari Ross verse is going on hiatus for a while longer.**

 **At the beginning, I loved writing this story more than anything else. But overtime it became less about the fun and more about how many people were reading it. That is not the kind of author that I want to be, ever. Writing has always been a source of enjoyment for me, and I don't ever want that to change. Sorry.**

 **I love you all.**

 **DemigodDaughteroftheTARDIS**


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